Established
in 1996, The Wagner Law Group has 23 attorneys engaged
exclusively in employee benefits,estate planning and
employment law. Seven of our attorneys are AV rated by
Martindale-Hubbell as having very high to preeminent legal abilities
and ethical standards. The firm is among the largest ERISA boutiques
in the country. Our practice is national in scope, with clients in
more than 40 states and several foreign countries.

The IRS has issued guidance
providing transitional relief from the individual mandate penalty
contained in the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act
("PPACA"). This relief is limited to employees of employers
that sponsor non-calendar year group health plans.

PPACA's individual mandate
requires all non-exempt taxpayers to maintain minimum essential
coverage effective January 1, 2014. Taxpayers who fail to obtain
minimum essential coverage by this date will be assessed a penalty
equal to the greater of a flat dollar amount or a percentage of the
taxpayer's annual income above the tax-filing threshold.

The transitional relief
allows employees and their spouses and dependents who are eligible to
enroll in their employer's non-calendar year health plan to avoid
individual mandate penalties for the months between January 1, 2014,
and the month in which the employer's 2014 plan year begins.

On July 3, 2013, the
Massachusetts Senate passed legislation repealing the state's Fair
Share Employer Contribution law, effective immediately. The
Massachusetts Fair Share Employer Contribution law, which was the
state's version of the employer mandate, required employers with
eleven or more Massachusetts full time equivalent employees to offer
subsidized health care coverage to employees or pay a $295 penalty
per full-time equivalent employee.

Governor Patrick's
administration originally had agreed to eliminate the state's Fair
Share Employer Contribution law because PPACA's employer mandate was
set to take effect in January 2014. Following the Obama
administration's announcement of a one-year delay in the effective
date of PPACA's employer mandate, Governor Patrick commented that he
would still not block the repeal of the state's employer mandate.

On July 12, 2013, Governor
Patrick held true to his word and signed legislation repealing the
Massachusetts Fair Share Employer Contribution law.

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appearing herein may be reproduced with appropriate credit.

Pursuant to Internal Revenue Service Circular 230, we
hereby inform you that any advice set forth herein with respect to US
federal tax issues is not intended or written by The Wagner Law Group
to be used and cannot be used, by you or any taxpayer, for the purpose
of avoiding penalties that may be imposed on you or any other person
under the Internal Revenue Code.

This Newsletter is provided for information purposes by
The Wagner Law Group to clients and others who may be interested in the
subject matter, and may not be relied upon as specific legal
advice. This material is not to be construed as legal advice or
legal opinions on specific facts. Under the Rules of the Supreme
Judicial Court of Massachusetts, this material may be considered
advertising.